Charlie Breitrose Watertown residents cast their ballots at Watertown Town Hall in the 2020 Massachusetts Presidential Primary.
The deadline for submitting papers to run in the Town Election is approaching and as of July 22 there are not enough At-Large Town Council candidates for the number of seats.
While three of the four district councilor seats have contested races, only three of the four councilor at-large incumbents have taken out papers to get signatures to run for re-election.
In District C and the Town Council President election, so far only the incumbents have taken out papers.
The School Committee has had six people take out papers for the three spots, including two incumbents. Current member John Portz announced he will not be seeking another term.
Five people have taken out papers to run for the three spots on the Board of Library Trustees, including two incumbents. Trustee Michael Hanlon is running for District A Town Councilor.
The deadline for getting nomination papers into the Town Clerk’s office with signatures is Tuesday, July 27 at 5 p.m. The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Candidates must get at least 100 signatures of registered Watertown voters, and for a Town-wide office no more than 50 can be from one of Watertown’s four districts.
There will be no early voting in the Town Election, according to the Clerk’s office.
See more stories about the Watertown election by clicking here.
Which at-large Councilor hasn’t pulled papers yet?
Anthony Donato.
Oh, no! Anthony has been great! I hope this isn’t so.
I heard he had. I guess that info was incorrect.
At least not from the Town Clerk’s office.
Is there another way you can pull papers? Online?
Yes, I think you can get the documents from the website.
What is the status now? It is so strange because these seats were all hotly contested 2 years ago, and not all the action is on the school committee and library trustee front. If no one runs, then they will have to appoint and/or have a special election.
If not all the council seats are filled, it would be up to the Council to decide how to handle the vacancy. This is what the charter says:
SECTION 2-9
FILLING OF VACANCIES.
(a)
If a vacancy shall occur in the office of council president, councillor-at-large or district councillor during the first twelve months of the term for which councillors are elected, the vacancy shall be filled by special election forthwith and no earlier than 64 days from the date election is called; provided however, by vote of not less than 6 councillors, the town council may instead vote to fill the vacancy from among the voters by appointment.
It’s a thankless and difficult job now with all the hostility and nastiness they must endure from a small but vocal group of people in this town who seem to hate everything about Watertown.
Are you referring to those rabid progressive liberals?? Then yes you are correct.
So who has pulled papers as of now?
The other 3 incumbent at large councilors pulled papers, Tony Palomba, Caroline Bays and John Gannon.
hmm.. perhaps I’ll give this some thought
The real Tucker Carlson would be terrified to put his name on a ballot.
Heard multiple people have since pulled papers before the clerk’s office closed at 2pm today.
Dan D’Amico and Connie Sherbill Henry both pulled for the seat last night, just in case.
Going make a trip to the City Clerk on Monday. It is always best to go to the source to get an accurate list.